Take the Senate, 2014

Dear Fellow Chairs,

When I ran for WSDCC chair I was asked two things over and over again.  How are we going to win the State Senate? How are we going to grow the party? My idea was simple: we would implement a “Sister LD” or “Adopt an LD” program. This type of program would allow our strongest LDs to support other LDs when and where help would do the most good. It was popular when I described it, and I am proud to say that we are ready to launch this program through the WSDCO.

Section One: The Organizations

First, I want to introduce the organizations already involved in the plan. This specific plan will be coordinated by the Washington State Democratic Chairs Organization. We will be working closely with the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Young Democrats of Washington State. These organizations are already on board, and other organizations may be added as the campaign goes forward.

Section Two: The Goal

Second, we must identify the goals for 2014. We have one end goal this year; the Democratic Party must regain our majority in the Washington State Senate. To that end, we have identified five Legislative Districts during the 2014 Election Cycle that we want to concentrate our efforts and resources on.  These are the five districts that we are hoping you will adopt:

The 6th District

Represents a crescent shaped district around the North, West, and Southern parts of the City of Spokane, and parts of North and Southwestern Spokane County, including Airway Heights, Medical Lake and Cheney.

The senate seat is currently held by Michael Baumgartner (R).

The 28th District

Represents part of Pierce County including Fircrest, University Place, Lakewood, Steilacoom, Tillicum, Dupont, part of Tacoma, Graham, Spanaway and Anderson, Ketron, and McNeil Islands.

The senate seat is currently held by Steve O’Ban (R).

The 42nd District

Represents most of Whatcom County including Point Roberts, Blaine, Ferndale, Lynden, Nooksack, Everson and the northern part of Bellingham.

The senate seat is currently held by Doug Ericksen (R).

The 45th District

Represents part of King County including Woodinville, Duvall, and part of Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish.

The senate seat is currently held by Andy Hill (R).

The 48th District

Represents part of King County including part of Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and all of Medina, Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point and Hunts Point.

The senate seat is currently held by Rodney Tom (“D”).

Section Three: The Method

Now that we have identified which races we Democrats can win, we need to decide to support those races in order to win the Senate.

We are looking for two types of organizations specifically who are willing to adopt one of these five groups.

1.       “Safe” districts. If your democratic candidate is going to win his or her election by 60% or more, is running unopposed, or is otherwise generally agreed to be in a safe race, we need you! We hope and expect that you will still work to ensure your senator wins his or her race, but they will tell you that unless we regain a real majority in the senate, the work they would like to do will not happen. Please consider adopting one of the LDs above.

2.       “Top-Two” are districts with two Republicans in the General Election. If no Democrats make it through to the primary or it is pretty assured that any Democrat is not currently in a position to win in 2014 in your district, please consider adopting one of the LDs above. Just because you have no candidate to rally around in your home district doesn’t mean that your time, energy and donations are not needed to win the senate. Being able to help us regain the majority is the first step in making sure that you will have a Democrat to vote for in your next election.

Section Four: The Means

If you feel like you would like to be a part of this movement, please discuss this plan with your e-board or general membership.

The commitment is as follows:

1.       We will need donations! Your LD or county organization can send money to one of the five organizations listed above. This will allow those organizations to run independent expenditure programs that will further promote the growth of the party in their areas.

2.       We still need donations! Encourage your membership to donate directly to the campaigns. If you have a “big donor” that can easily “max out” with their contributions to their home senator, please ask them to donate to the adopted LD’s candidate as well.

3.       We need boots on the ground. We expect that there will be two major canvassing days. One before the ballots drop and one after. This does not preclude the adopted LD chair from asking for more help or the campaigns reaching out to you independently. However, we want to make sure the efforts are concentrated.

4.       We need your expertise! If your organization can offer help and/or advice to another, please consider it. Also if you need help or advice, please do not hesitate to ask.

If your organization has the ability to help and would like to adopt one of the five LDs listed above, please contact me as soon as possible.

Section Five: Closing Statement

While the State Party runs a coordinated campaign every year, to my knowledge this is the first time the LDs and counties have decided on our own to do something like this. We have been planning on this for a while as we tried to prepare ourselves and the organizations for this important undertaking.  I wish to explicitly state that this is an attempt to win the Senate, but also to build our local organizations. To that end, the chair of the adopted LD gets the final word on what work needs to be done. We will work with each chair to determine an outside group coordinator to make sure that communications between the adopted LD and the supporters are seamless.

We cannot succeed without your help and support. This plan will only work if we all work together. If the plan does work, our local organizations should be stronger and better connected as we move into the 2016 presidential elections.

Thank you for your hard work,

In solidarity,

Jay Clough

jvclough@gmail.com

Comments to Metropolitan Democratic Club, January 11th, 2012

The Commission completed their work with two and a half hours to spare.  Everyone has hopefully seen the maps.  The new 10th CD is around Olympia, the majority minority district is the 9th with Adam Smith as the incumbent.  The new 1st CD goes from Bothell to Bellingham.

Commission protected most of the incumbents, but we're seeing some fallout.  The 11th LD Senator was moved to the 37th, and she is retiring.  All three of the seats in the 11th may be open, and they lost their district chair to the 37th as well.

The State Party directed legislative districts to begin operating within the new boundaries within 30 days of adoption of the final plan by the legislature.  This means that I can't technically welcome the new members of the 46th until the plan is adopted.  But I'm already moving forward with the new boundaries and I'm encouraging other LD chairs to do the same.

The LDs in King County had quite a shakeup.  The chairs of the 11th, 37th, 45th, 47th and 48th all need new chairs, either because of resignation or redistricting.  I'm seeing long time activists who have been frustrated over the last few years step up and stand for election.  That's great.

Rep. Inslee: McKenna Lawsuit Not the Washington Way

For Immediate Release March 23, 2010

CONTACT: Robert Kellar
(202) 226-7040


Rep. Inslee: McKenna Lawsuit Not the Washington Way

Washington, DC – This evening, Rep. Jay Inslee (WA-01) released the following statement regarding news that Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna would be joining in a lawsuit to deem health insurance reform, recently passed by both the House and Senate, to be unconstitutional:

“We fought over 2,000 insurance industry lobbyists in Washington DC to protect Washingtonians health care, we shouldn’t have to fight our own Attorney General too. Stripping families of their legal rights to insurance, may be the South Carolina way, may be the insurance company way, may be the Tea Party way, but it’s not the Washington way.

“If the Rob McKenna had his way, he would remove the cornerstone of this house of health, bringing down all the rights and protections we have fought so hard to build. Rob McKenna would leave Washingtonians naked and allow insurance companies to deny them care for a preexisting condition or strip them of coverage after they get sick. That is not the Washington way. We should be disappointed that our attorney general has chosen to be in league with insurance companies and not Washingtonians.

“Rob McKenna does not know, or does not care that a significant part of this comprehensive reform includes the solution to decades of Medicare reimbursement disparity for Washington health care providers and hospitals, and more importantly a new structure for health care spending that will reward quality care, reduce the deficit and save families money.”


Rep. Inslee has served Washington State’s 1st Congressional District since 1999 and is a leading member of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee with primary jurisdiction over health care legislation. Jay is a leader of the Quality Care Coalition which negotiated language into health care reform that addresses the Medicare reimbursement disparity issue that has plagued Washington State health providers and hospitals for decades as well as action that will bend the cost curve of health care by moving Medicare away from a “fee for service” model that rewards quantity of service to a one that rewards quality of results.


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Brian Baird plans 5 Town Hall meetings

Baird Expresses Regret for Remarks, Calls for Civil Discussions and Announces Series of Five Town Hall Meetings (August 12, 2009)

Washington, D.C.- Today, Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA-03) announced a series of five town hall meetings to reach out to constituents and discuss issues facing the nation.

"I have always been a huge advocate of town halls" said Congressman Baird, who has hosted more than three hundred town halls since taking office. "Frankly, I have had concerns about how we can have constructive dialogue and, unfortunately, in response to some of the things we've been seeing across the nation I have said some things myself that I regret. I want to express that regret directly and announce that we will be holding a series of five town halls so people can express their opinions and ask questions. My hope and trust is that we can have the kinds of informative exchanges that I have valued for so long and that reveal the very best of public discourse."

These town halls are in addition to the Congressman's pre-planned August schedule, which includes several telephone town halls that will reach thousands of people who would otherwise not be able to come to a town hall meeting. Congressman Baird will also hold a series of private, focused meetings with doctors, nurses, small business owners, and health care clinic administrators to go into more detail about specifics of the proposed legislation and how it would affect health care in our communities.

Please click here for a complete statement from Congressman Baird on health care town hall meetings and his recent remarks on the issue.

Below is the information for the upcoming town hall in Clark County. Locations are being sought for the four additional town halls that will be held throughout Southwest Washington in the next few weeks and these will be announced when possible:


Clark County

Date: Tuesday August 18

Time: 7:00-9:30pm

Location:

Skyview High School

Auditorium

1300 NW 139th St

Vancouver, WA 98685

For those times when Drupal has trouble

I figured it was a good backup plan to have a Google Blog for the WSDCO.